Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It’s Blitz
[Interscope]
[xrr rating=4.7/5]
Reviewed by: Christian Hagen
From the very start of “Zero”, the first track off of It’s Blitz the newest disc from underground punk royalty Yeah Yeah Yeahs, it’s clear that the band has taken their sound in a new direction. The very first sounds heard are those of synthy, charging lick that drives headlong into a disco party jam under singer Karen O’s decidedly toned-down vocal presence. The song is upbeat, but not particularly heavy. The singing is, well, singing; there are no screaming freakouts. The song, while remaining essentially the same volume level throughout, has direction and actually ends. Yes, it’s clear that something has changed since the last time we’ve heard this band.
But it’s only as the album progresses that the new direction becomes startlingly apparent.
Gone are the days of shrieking art-punk noise explosions that fans may remember wistfully from Yeah Yeah Yeahs breakout record, Fever To Tell. Indeed, the new sound has more in common with the song that was (let’s be honest) almost entirely responsible for that breakout, “Maps”, a track which had nothing in common with the rest of the album on which it was included. YYY’s have always been driven in equal measure by Karen O’s brazen energy and audacity, Nick Zinner’s steady riffing, and Brian Chase’s proficient drum work. But on It’s Blitz, keyboards and even strings can be added to that list.
And as the band continues to expand their sound, so too do they expand their emotional range. On their last record, the sadly underappreciated Show Your Bones, YYY’s got trippy and occasionally psychedelic. But on It’s Blitz, the curtain of unusual experimentation is pulled away, and underneath is revealed the beautiful heart of a band that has matured with time. Tracks like “Skeletons”, “Little Shadow”, and “Hysteric” qualify as legitimate ballads, and the fragility of Karen O’s voice adds a dimension of honesty that some naysayers may have found lacking in previous works.
Possibly the album’s greatest highlight is “Dull Life”, a brilliantly schizophrenic song that leaps deftly between the two best musical ideas that the band here showcases. It’s starts slowly and softly, and for a moment it seems that sadness has overtaken the party band and the dancing portion of the album is on indefinite hiatus. But in a swift burst, the tragedy turns into a new kind of party, an upbeat and intense disco-rock jam. Then, just as quickly as it came, the life of the party dies down again, and we are carried slowly, with mounting power, through the original slow-jam. Until, of course, the band catches their second wind, and we end with another furious explosion of sound and happiness.
I don’t feel that I can, in good conscience, summarize this sonic transformation that has taken place within Yeah Yeah Yeahs without pointing out its inherent similarities to another female-fronted indie band, Metric. I won’t get sucked into a debate of which band came first, or comment on which is better, but it is undeniable, when placing these songs up against Metric’s new album Fantasies, for example, this combination of instruments, and even attitudes, is extraordinarily similar. I can’t say that I think this is a bad thing, as I quite like both bands (and both albums), and I would stress that each band brings their own swagger and fanbase to their performances. But the comparison brings perspective to the work as it will inevitably stand in history.
It’s Blitz, despite any similarities it may have to other artists or albums, is still extremely difficult to fault. Yeah Yeah Yeahs have mastered their new chosen sound in almost every way. Even the slower songs thrive with power and honesty, and musical ability is anything but lacking. The brilliance displayed is not seen in flashes or moments, but in entire stretches, if not the entire album. Surely it is among the many masterpieces of the art-punk movement, and will stand tall in the band’s catalogue for fans and newcomers alike. Whether it will spark the attention to break them into the mainstream remains to be seen, but it’s unlikely Yeah Yeah Yeahs are the sort to care what anyone else thinks of them.